Systems and methods for creating digital games from media

ABSTRACT

Various systems and methods for sharing electronic media are disclosed herein. According to particular embodiments, the system enables a user to select media (e.g., an image, a video, a gif, etc.) and compose a phrase to be associated with the media. In some embodiments, the system creates a post from the media and the phrase and enables the user to transmit the post to one or more other users to play (e.g., guess the phrase).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application and claims the benefit ofand priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/503,828, filed Oct.1, 2014, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PLAYING ELECTRONIC GAMES ANDSHARING DIGITAL MEDIA”, which is hereby incorporated by reference hereinas if set forth herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Electronic and online games have risen in popularity over the past fewdecades at least partially due to the ubiquity of the Internet. Suchgames come in a variety of flavors from massive multiplayer online gamesto single player side-scroll games to multiplayer board-style games toeducational card games. The popularity of online gaming may be partiallydue to the social aspects of gaming, including providing a unique way inwhich players can connect and compete against friends, colleagues, andfamily.

Similarly, social networking websites and applications have become verypopular. The ability to share information, news, personal information,pictures, and videos with an online social media network seems to havebecome a popular, if not the most popular, contemporary way tocommunicate.

Such social networking websites and applications may provide some levelof “gamification” of the shared information. For example, in someapplications, users can accumulate “likes” for certain popular content,users can share content that is deleted after a certain amount of timelapses, and/or users can acquire “followers” who follow their content.However, such gamification of content sharing has not been fullyrealized. Therefore, there is a long-felt but unresolved need for asystem or method that combines online gaming with the social aspects ofsocial network information sharing.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In various embodiments, a method of playing a game is disclosed, themethod including: 1) receiving, by at least one processor, a shareablemedia file and a phrase corresponding to the shareable media from acomputing device associated with a first user, the phrase including aplurality of characters; 2) storing the shareable media and the phrasein memory; 3) transmitting, by at least one processor, the shareablemedia, the phrase, and a series of blanks corresponding to each of theplurality of characters to a second computing device associated with asecond user; 4) receiving, by at least one processor, a selection of acertain character of a plurality of predefined characters from thesecond computing device; 5) in response to receiving the selection ofthe certain character from the second computing device, comparing thecertain character to each of the plurality of characters of the phrasestored in memory for determining whether the plurality of charactersinclude the certain character; 6) upon determining that the phrasestored in memory includes the certain character, displaying the certaincharacter in the one or more corresponding blanks on the secondcomputing device; 7) upon determining that the phrase stored in memorydoes not include the certain character, indicating to the second userthat the phrase stored in memory does not include the certain character;and 8) repeating steps 4-7 until a) each of the series of blanksdisplays a corresponding character or b) determining that the phrasestored in memory does not include the certain character n times.

According to particular embodiments, a system for playing a game isdisclosed, the system including: A) memory for storing: i) a pluralityof posts of a game, wherein each of the plurality of posts of the gameincludes at least one phrase associated with at least one shareablemedia file; and ii) information about a plurality of players of thegame, wherein one or more of the plurality of posts are created by atleast one player of the game of the plurality of players; and B) atleast one processor operatively coupled to the memory, the at least oneprocessor configured for: 1) receiving shareable media from a firstcomputing device associated with a first user to be transmitted to asecond computing device associated with a second user; 2) transmittingthe shareable media to the second computing device; 3) receiving and aphrase corresponding to the shareable media from the second computingdevice, the phrase including a plurality of characters; 4) storing theshareable media and the phrase in memory as a post; 5) transmitting theshareable media, the phrase, and a series of blanks corresponding toeach of the plurality of characters to a third computing deviceassociated with a third user; 6) receiving an indication of a certaincharacter of a plurality of predefined characters from the thirdcomputing device; 7) in response to receiving the indication of thecertain character from the third computing device, comparing the certaincharacter to each of the plurality of characters of the phrase stored inmemory for determining whether the plurality of characters include thecertain character; 8) upon determining that the phrase stored in memoryincludes the certain character, displaying the certain character in theone or more corresponding blanks on the third computing device; 9) upondetermining that the phrase stored in memory does not include thecertain character, indicating to the third user that the phrase storedin memory does not include the certain character; and 10) repeatingsteps 6-9 until a) each of the series of blanks displays a correspondingcharacter on the third computing device or b) determining that thephrase stored in memory does not include the certain character n times.

In one or more embodiments, a method of sharing media with a pluralityof players is disclosed, wherein at least one of the plurality ofplayers creates one or more playable posts, the method including: 1)receiving, by at least one processor, a shareable media file and aplurality of characters corresponding to the shareable media from acomputing device associated with a post creation player of the pluralityof players; 2) creating, by at least one processor, a playable post fromthe shareable media and the plurality of characters; 3) storing theplayable post in memory; 4) displaying, by at least one processor, anindication of the playable post on computing devices associated with theplurality of players; 5) receiving a request from a particular computingdevice associated with a particular player of the plurality of playersto play the playable post; 6) upon receiving the request from theparticular computing device, enabling the particular player to play theplayable post on the particular computing device; 7) receiving, from theparticular computing device, a rating of the playable post; and 8)ranking the playable post based at least in part on the rating receivedfrom the particular computing device.

In further embodiments, a system for playing a game is disclosed, thesystem including: A) memory for storing: i) a plurality of posts,wherein each of the plurality of posts include at least one phraseassociated with at least one shareable media file; and ii) informationregarding a plurality of players, wherein one or more of the pluralityof posts are created by at least one player of the plurality of players;and B) at least one processor operatively coupled to the memory, the atleast one processor configured for: 1) displaying a list of theplurality of posts to a particular player of the plurality of players ona particular computing device, the list arranged based at least in parton one or more players' ranking of each of the plurality of posts; 2)receiving a request from the particular computing device associated withthe particular player to play a particular post of the plurality ofposts, the particular post at a first position in the list; 3) uponreceiving the request from the particular computing device, receiving afirst character from the particular computing device; 3) determiningwhether the first character matches one or more characters of aplurality of characters included in at least one phrase of theparticular post; 4) upon determining that the first character matchesone or more characters of the plurality of characters included in the atleast one phrase of the particular post, determining whether each of theplurality of characters included in the at least one phrase of theparticular post has been matched; 5) based on determining that each ofthe plurality of characters included in the at least one phrase of theparticular post has been matched, receiving, from the particularcomputing device, a rating of the particular post; and 6) rearrangingthe list such that the particular post is at a second position in thelist based at least in part on the rating received from the particularcomputing device.

These and other aspects, features, and benefits of the claimedinvention(s) will become apparent from the following detailed writtendescription of the preferred embodiments and aspects taken inconjunction with the following drawings, although variations andmodifications thereto may be effected without departing from the spiritand scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary system environment constructed according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary computer/server architecture according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary game play processaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary post ranking processaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface featuring a homescreen of an electronic game according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for selecting aphotograph source according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for adding aphrase to a selected photograph according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for approving aphrase and shareable media combination according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for selecting aparticular post to play according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for playing aparticular post according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary game play according toone embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary game play according toone embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary game play according toone embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for receivingcoins/points after playing a particular post according to one embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface displayingoptions for a particular post that has been played by a particular useraccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for viewingand/or adding comments to a particular post according to one embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for viewing theratings of a particular post according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for browsingposts according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface displaying aprofile of a particular user according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingone or more adjustable settings according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface displaying usersthat a particular user is following according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface displayingfollowers of a particular user according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 23 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingnotices according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of thepresent disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodimentsillustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used todescribe the same. It will, nevertheless, be understood that nolimitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended; anyalterations and further modifications of the described or illustratedembodiments, and any further applications of the principles of thedisclosure as illustrated therein are contemplated as would normallyoccur to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure relates. Alllimitations of scope should be determined in accordance with and asexpressed in the claims.

Overview

According to various embodiments, systems and methods disclosed hereindescribe a digital media sharing platform. In particular embodiments,systems and methods disclosed herein describe a system where a postcreation player selects shareable media (e.g., an image, a document, avideo, a gif, an audio clip, etc.) and selects or enters a phraseassociated with the shareable media for a post player to guess thephrase letter-by-letter after or while simultaneously viewing theshareable media.

Particularly, in various embodiments, the system is configured forreceiving a shareable media file and a phrase corresponding to theshareable media file from a computing device associated with the postcreation player and storing the shareable media file and the phrase inmemory. In these embodiments (and other embodiments), the system isconfigured for: 1) transmitting the shareable media file, the phrase,and a series of blanks corresponding to each of the plurality ofcharacters to a computing device associated with the post player; 2)receiving a selection of a certain character of a plurality ofpredefined characters from the computing device associated with the postplayer; 3) in response to receiving the selection of the certaincharacter from the computing device associated with the post player,comparing the certain character to each of the plurality of charactersof the phrase stored in memory for determining whether the plurality ofcharacters include the certain character; 4) upon determining that thephrase stored in memory includes the certain character, displaying thecertain character in the one or more corresponding blanks on thecomputing device associated with the post player; 5) upon determiningthat the phrase stored in memory does not include the certain character,indicating to the post player that the phrase stored in memory does notinclude the certain character; and 6) repeating steps 2-5 until a) eachof the series of blanks displays a corresponding character or b)determining that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise thecertain character a predetermined number of times.

The systems and methods described above may have various additionalfeatures and/or functionality. As will be discussed herein, the systemmay be configured to receive a media file (to be combined with a phrase)in any suitable way, such as from post creation player's smart phonememory (in the case of mobile device application), directly from acamera associated with the post creation player (e.g., a mobile device'sbuilt-in camera), copied from the internet, selected from stock images,videos, etc. provided with the system, etc. Additionally, in one or moreembodiments, once the shareable media file and phrase combination isstored in memory, the system may be configured to transmit the shareablemedia file and phrase combination (sometimes referred to as a “playablepost”) to the post player only (e.g., a private post), to the postplayer and one or more other users designated by the post creationplayer (e.g., a semi-private post), to the post player, one or moreother users designated by the post creator, and to the public (e.g., apublic post send to specific users), to the public (e.g., a publicpost), and/or any combination of the above. In these embodiments (andothers), for example, a post creation player may select to transmit aplayable post to one other user (e.g., and the post is not searchable),to more than one other user (e.g., and the post is not searchable), tothe public (e.g., the post is searchable), to one or more other usersand to the public (e.g., transmit directly to one or more users and thepost is searchable), etc. In further embodiments, the system may beconfigured to enable the post creation player to vary one or more gameparameters, such as a number of guesses the post player may take toguess the characters of a phrase, a number of hints available to thepost player, etc.

In some embodiments, the systems and methods herein describe how toorganize and rank shareable media files, phrases, and shareable mediafile and phrase combinations (e.g., posts), such as the shareable mediafile and phrase combinations discussed above. Particularly, in variousembodiments, the system is configured to: 1) receive a shareable mediafile and a plurality of characters corresponding to the shareable mediafile from a computing device associated with a post creation player; 2)create a playable post from the shareable media file and the pluralityof characters; 3) store the playable post in memory; 4) display anindication of the playable post on computing devices associated with theplurality of players; 5) receive a request from a post player to playthe playable post; 6) upon receiving the request from the post player,enabling the post player to play the playable post on the particularcomputing device; 7) receive, from the post player, a rating of theplayable post; and 8) rank the playable post based at least in part onthe rating received from the post player.

The playable posts mentioned herein may be ranked and/or sorted in anysuitable way. In various embodiments, playable posts are ranked orsorted based on players' ratings of the playable posts (e.g., averagerating, high rating, low rating, etc.). In one or more embodiments,playable posts may be ranked based on players' performance of theplayable post (e.g., an average of how many turns it takes the postplayer to guess the phrase, etc.).

In addition to being ranked, posts may also be searchable by postplayers. In various embodiments, the system is configured to enable thepost player to search for a playable post by keyword and/or hashtagassociated with the playable post. These keywords, in particularembodiments, may be associated with playable posts at the time ofcreation and/or by various post players when they are played. It shouldbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the system may beconfigured to “normalize” keywords into one or more hashtags (#'s) toallow for easier searching.

For example, a particular post creation player creates a playable postincluding an image of a soccer ball. The particular post creation playerassociates the keyword “football” with the playable post (e.g., the moreinternationally recognized term for a soccer ball). The system, in thisexample, may be configured to normalize the keyword “football” to“soccer ball” and/or associate additional terms with the keyword (e.g.,“soccer ball”) such that when post players search for “soccer” or“soccer ball,” the playable post created by the particular post creationplayer in this example is retrieved.

The system may be configured to enable a player to select one or moreother players to “follow.” The player, in various embodiments, mayreceive notifications or other indications when one or more of the otherplayers they are following creates a post and/or takes some otheraction. It should be understood that “players” may be individuals,companies, or groups. In this way, the player may “follow” a particularcompany and receive notifications of the particular company's posts.

Further, the system may be configured for enabling companies (or users)to create interactive posts, such that the player may solve the postsand then access special information, advertisements, deals, sales, andthe like. In various embodiments, an interactive post may act as a callto action (e.g., a post that provokes an immediate response such asselecting a link to purchase a product, etc.) As a particular example,Company A creates a playable post including an image of a new productand a phrase corresponding to the image (e.g., the phrase is, forexample, the name of the new product), once solved by a particularplayer, the post presents a link or automatically sends the particularplayer to a page where the particular player can buy the new product(e.g., at a discount). In this example, the particular player may begiven a different discount dependent on how may turns it took the userto guess the phrase.

Exemplary Technical Platforms

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant field, the presentinvention may be, for example, embodied as a computer system, a method,or a computer program product. Accordingly, various embodiments may takethe form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely softwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects.Furthermore, particular embodiments may take the form of a computerprogram product stored on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable instructions (e.g., software) embodied in the storagemedium. Various embodiments may take the form of web-implementedcomputer software. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may beutilized including, for example, hard disks, compact disks, DVDs,optical storage devices, and/or magnetic storage devices.

Various embodiments are described below with reference to block diagramsand flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatuses (e.g., systems), andcomputer program products. It should be understood that each block ofthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively,can be implemented by a computer executing computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial purpose computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on thecomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memoryproduce an article of manufacture that is configured for implementingthe function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computerprogram instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide stepsfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of mechanisms for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instructions for performing the specified functions. Itshould also be understood that each block of the block diagrams andflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware andother hardware executing appropriate computer instructions.

Exemplary System Architecture

As discussed above, various systems and methods herein describe aplatform for sharing media. As will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art, these media sharing systems and methods may beimplemented in any suitable way. The following is a description ofexemplary architecture and is but one example of how the hereindescribed systems and methods may be implemented.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 according to a particularembodiment. As may be understood from this figure, the system 100includes one or more computer networks 115, a game server 200, adatabase 140, one or more computing devices 152 (e.g., such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computing device, a laptopcomputer, etc.), a desktop computer 154, and/or a game console 156. Inparticular embodiments, the one or more computer networks 115 facilitatecommunication between the game server 200, database 140, and one or morecomputing devices 152, 154, 156.

The one or more computer networks 115 may include any of a variety oftypes of wired or wireless computer networks such as the Internet, aprivate intranet, a mesh network, a public switch telephone network(PSTN), or any other type of network (e.g., a network that usesBluetooth or near field communications to facilitate communicationbetween computers). The communication link between the game server 200and the database 140 may be, for example, implemented via a Local AreaNetwork (LAN) or via the Internet.

In particular embodiments, the one or more mobile computing devices 152,the desktop computing device 154, and/or the game console 156 areconfigured to download a game engine 300A, 300B, and/or 300C,respectively (collectively “game engine 300”). As will be understood byone of ordinary skill in the art, the game engine 300 may represent anysuitable instance or portion of the systems and methods described hereinthat is stored locally on any of the one or more computing devices 152,154, and/or 156.

As a particular example, a user downloads an application (or “App”) froman application store, which is stored on the user's mobile device (e.g.,the one or more mobile computing devices 152). Continuing with thisparticular example, the application includes the game engine 300, whichincludes the basic components of the media sharing systems and methodsdiscussed herein. The game engine 300, in this particular example,communicates (e.g., via the one or more networks 115) with the gameserver 200 to receive/retrieve and/or transmit content (e.g., shareablemedia, statistics, user account/profile information, etc.) for use inthe application on the user's mobile device.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic representation, in variousembodiments, of the architecture of an exemplary computer that can beused within the system 100, for example, as a client computer (e.g., oneof the one or more computing devices 152, 154, 156 shown in FIG. 1) oras a server computer (e.g., game server 200 shown in FIG. 1). Inparticular embodiments, the architecture of the game server 200 may besuitable for use as a computer within the context of the system 100 thatis configured to enable users to create, play, and rank posts, amongother various functions. For purposes of clarity and brevity, theexemplary computer shown in FIG. 2 will be referred to as the gameserver 200, although it should be understood that this exemplarycomputer may represent any suitable computing device associated with thesystems and methods described herein.

In particular embodiments, the game server 200 may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other computers in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, and/orthe Internet. As noted above, the game server 200 may operate in thecapacity of a server, a client computer in a client-server networkenvironment, and/or as a peer computer in a peer-to-peer (ordistributed) network environment. The game server 200 may be a desktoppersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, aserver, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any other computercapable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise)that specify actions to be taken by that computer. Further, while only asingle computer is illustrated, the term “computer” shall also be takento include any collection of computers that individually or jointlyexecute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein.

An exemplary game server 200 includes a processor 202, a main memory 204(e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM),etc.), a static memory 206 (e.g., flash memory, static random accessmemory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 218, which communicatewith each other via a bus 232.

The processor 202 represents one or more processors such as amicroprocessor, a central processing unit, or the like. Moreparticularly, the processor 202 may be a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,processor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. The processor 202 mayalso be one or more special-purpose processors such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, or thelike. The processor 202 may be configured to execute processing logic226 for performing various operations and steps discussed herein.

The game server 200 may further include a network interface device 208.The game server 200 also may include a video display unit 210 (e.g., aliquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 214 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 216 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 218 may include a machine-accessible storagemedium 230 (also known as a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium or a non-transitory computer-readable medium) on which is storedone or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 222) embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software222 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 204 and/or within the processor 202 during execution thereof bythe game server 200—the main memory 204 and the processor 202 alsoconstituting computer-accessible storage media. The software 222 mayfurther be transmitted or received over a network 115 via a networkinterface device 208.

The software 222 may represent any number of program modules, including,but not limited to an operating system (not shown), a game engine 300,and/or a post ranking engine 400. For simplicity and brevity, theseengines are merely exemplary and may represent a number of programmodules that control certain aspects of the operation of the game server200. The game engine 300 and post ranking engine 400 are described inmore detail below.

While the machine-accessible storage medium 230 is shown in an exemplaryembodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-accessible storagemedium” should be understood to include a single medium or multiplemedia (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associatedcaches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. Theterm “computer-accessible storage medium” should also be understood toinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying aset of instructions for execution by the computer and that cause thecomputer to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the presentinvention. The term “computer-accessible storage medium” shouldaccordingly be understood to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, optical and magnetic media, etc.

Exemplary Post Creation

Turning to FIG. 3, game engine 300 may carry out any number of suitableprocesses, many of which may be related to game play. FIG. 3 depicts anexemplary post creation and game play process by game engine 300according to various embodiments of systems and methods disclosedherein. As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, thefollowing process (and as shown in FIG. 3) is exemplary only and thesteps shown and discussed may be performed in a different order and/or anumber of steps may be removed or added.

Beginning with step 310, the system is configured to receive a shareablemedia file and a phrase corresponding to the shareable media from acomputing device associated with a first user, the phrase comprising aplurality of characters. In various embodiments, the system isconfigured to receive the shareable media and the phrase from acomputing device associated with an individual (e.g., the first user isa player on their mobile device, etc.). In one or more embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive the shareable media and phrase from acomputing device associated with a corporation, advertiser, and/or thirdparty product seller (e.g., wherein the post is created as anadvertisement). As discussed herein, the computing device may be anysuitable computing device (e.g., mobile device, tablet, desktopcomputer, wearable computing device, etc.) regardless of what type ofuser creates and transmits the post.

The shareable media may be any suitable media received from any suitablesource. In various embodiments, the system is configured to receive theshareable media by accessing memory of the first user's computing deviceand enabling the first user to select the shareable media as stored inthe computing device memory (e.g., a mobile device's media storage, adesktop or laptop computer's memory). In particular embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive the shareable media by receiving theshareable media as selected from predetermined stock media (e.g.,images, videos, gifs, etc. stored by the system and available to thefirst user). In further embodiments, the system is configured to receivethe shareable media from the computing device by enabling the computingdevice associated with the first user to copy an image from the Internet(or any suitable source) and import the image for use with the system.In still further embodiments, the system is configured to receive theshareable media by: 1) determining whether the computing deviceassociated with the first user is operatively connected to a shareablemedia capture device (e.g., a digital camera); 2) upon determining thatthe computing device associated with the first user is operativelyconnected to the shareable media capture device, enabling the first userto capture the shareable media on the shareable media capture device anddirectly importing the captured shareable media.

The system may be configured to receive any suitable phrasecorresponding to the shareable media. In various embodiments, the systemmay be configured to prompt the first user to submit a series ofcharacters which may form the phrase. In these embodiments (and others)the first user may submit any suitable characters includingalpha-numeric characters, punctuation, foreign characters, etc. As willbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system may beconfigured to receive any series of characters that may or may not beassociated with the shareable media. As a particular example, the firstuser submits and the system receives characters “C”, “A”, and “T” wherethe shareable media is an image of a cat. Alternatively, the system mayreceive the same characters (“C”, “A”, and “T”) where the shareablemedia is an image of a soccer ball.

The system may be configured to receive the phrase and/or characters inany suitable way. In various embodiments, the system is configured toreceive the phrase and/or characters from a typing device (e.g., analpha-numeric keyboard) operatively connected to the computing deviceassociated with the first user. In particular embodiments, the system isconfigured to receive the phrase and/or characters by voice command ofthe computing device associated with the first user. In someembodiments, the system is configured to receive the phrase and/orcharacters from a touch screen, touch pad, gesture input, etc. As willbe discussed herein, the phrase may include any suitable characters ofany language, punctuation characters, emoticons, images, gifs, etc.

The system may be further configured to enable the first user to adjustand/or define various other parameters related to the shareable mediaand phrase combination. In various embodiments, the system is configuredto receive a number of turns, guesses, or strikes a second user may usewhen guessing the characters of the phrase). In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive a number of hints the second user mayuse when guessing the characters of the phrase (e.g., the system may beconfigured to enable the first user to choose the number of hints thesecond user may receive when guessing the phrase). In furtherembodiments, the system is configured to receive a font choice fordisplaying the characters of the phrase (e.g., the system is configuredto enable the first user to choose a font to display characters of thephrase, such as TIMES NEW ROMAN, ARIAL, COMIC SANS, WINGDINGS, etc.). Instill further embodiments, the system is configured to enable the firstuser to annotate, draw on, or add stickers to the shareable media (e.g.,the first user may select one or more stickers to add to a selectedimage). In particular embodiments, the system may be configured toenable the first user to tag the shareable media (e.g., with anotheruser's account information, user name, etc.) and/or to add a geolocationto the shareable media.

In at least one embodiment, the system is configured to enable the firstuser to add audio comments to the playable post (e.g., to be heard by asecond user playing the playable post). The audio comments may be anysuitable message and may be a hint regarding the playable post. It willbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the system may beconfigured to associated the audio comment with the playable post in anysuitable way, such as by associating an audio file with the playablepost, etc.

The system may be configured to enable the first user to adjust orchange the shareable media. In various embodiments, the system isconfigured to enable the first user to select one or more filters tochange the appearance of the shareable media, such as, for example,sepia tone and/or black and white filters (e.g., to display theshareable media to a second user in sepia tone or in black and white).In particular embodiments, the system is configured to enable the firstuser to further modify the shareable media by, for example, croppingand/or scaling an image, video, gif, etc.

In various embodiments, the system may be configured to create arepresentation of the characters of the phrase. In particularembodiments, the system is configured to create a series of blanksrepresenting the characters of the phrase (e.g., a series of visualplaceholders, where each placeholder represents a character of thephrase). In one or more embodiments, the system is configured to createa number representing the characters of the phrase and/or a numberrepresenting the number of spaces, punctuation marks, etc. of the phrase(e.g., the system may display to a user a number (e.g., “10”)representing the number of characters of the phrase and/or a number ofspaces (e.g., “10 Characters, 2 Spaces”)). The representation of thecharacters of the phrase is referred to as “blanks” or “series ofblanks”; it should be understood from discussions herein that “blanks”or “series of blanks” may represent any suitable representation of thecharacters.

At step 320, the system is configured to store the shareable media andthe phrase in memory. As will be understood by the discussion above, thesystem may be configured to store other relevant data with the shareablemedia and phrase in memory, such as the number of turns the second usermay take to guess the phrase, the number of misses/strikes the seconduser may receive when guessing characters of the phrase, the number ofhints the second user may receive when attempting to guess the phrase,any keywords and/or hashtags associated with the shareable media and/orphrase, etc.

In various embodiments, the system is configured to create a thumbnailor other representation of the shareable media and phrase combination inmemory. In these embodiments (and others), the system is configured tocreate a thumbnail displaying a smaller version of the shareable mediaand the number of blanks for the phrase to be displayed to the seconduser in a list. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in theart that the thumbnail may be any suitable representation of theshareable media and phrase and may include (or not include), theshareable media, blanks, the phrase, punctuation of the phrase (if any),spaces (e.g., between words or groups of characters), number of strikes,etc.

Exemplary Game Play

Once a playable post is created and stored (e.g., the shareable mediaand phrase combination, blanks, and associated other settings), thesystem may be configured to enable a second user (e.g., or second users,etc.) to play the playable post. In particular embodiments, the seconduser selects the playable post to play, receives the shareable media andblanks created to represent characters of the phrase, and attempts toguess the phrase letter-by-letter by selecting letters presented by thesystem. A number of variations on this game play will be discussedbelow.

Continuing with FIG. 3, at step 330, the system is configured totransmit the shareable media, the phrase, and a series of blankscorresponding to each of the plurality of characters to a secondcomputing device associated with a second user. In various embodiments,the system is configured to transmit the shareable media, the phrase,and the series of blanks corresponding to each of the plurality ofcharacters (the “playable post”) based upon and/or in response toreceiving a request from the second user's computing device to transmitthe playable post. In some embodiments, the system is configured totransmit the playable post in response to receiving a request from athird user to transmit the playable post to the second user's computingdevice. In these embodiments (and others), the system is configured totransmit the playable post to the second user's computing device becausethe playable post has been selected by the first user to be sent to thesecond user. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art,that the first user may select the playable post to send to the seconduser's computing device in any suitable way, such as by creating theplayable post and directing the system to send the playable post to oneor more users, including the second user, by user-name and/or othercredential (e.g., if the system is connected to a social network, by thesecond user's social network credentials) and/or by selecting theplayable post from a list of playable posts (e.g., regardless of whetherthe first user created the playable post) to send to one or more users,including the second user.

The system may be configured to transmit the playable post to the seconduser in any suitable way. In various embodiments, the system isconfigured to transmit the playable post to the second user by selectingthe playable post in memory (e.g., at database 140 discussed inassociation with FIG. 1), and transmitting data representing theplayable post to the computing device associated with the second uservia a network (e.g., one or more networks 115).

At step 340, the system is configured to receive a selection of acertain character of a plurality of predefined characters from thesecond computing device. In particular embodiments, the system isconfigured to receive the selection of the certain character from thesecond computing device by receiving an indication that the second userhas selected the certain character on an input mechanism of the secondcomputing device (e.g., a touchscreen input on a mobile device ortablet, a keyboard input on a desktop computer, etc.).

The plurality of predefined characters may include any suitablecharacters. In various embodiments, the plurality of predefinedcharacters includes English language alpha-numeric characters. In someembodiments, the plurality of predefined characters includespunctuation, such as “.”, “;”, “?”, “!”, etc. In further embodiments,the plurality of predefined characters includes various symbols and/oremoticons. In still further embodiments, the plurality of predefinedcharacters includes non-English alpha-numeric characters, such ascharacters specific to German, Russian, Mandarin (Chinese), Japanese,Spanish, and/or French languages. As will be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art, the plurality of characters may include anysuitable characters and the list of languages above is intended to beexemplary only.

The system may be configured to receive the selection of the certaincharacter after, or in response, to any suitable action. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to receive the selection of thecertain character after or in response to transmitting the predefinedcharacters to and/or displaying the predefined characters on the secondcomputing device. In one or more embodiments, the system is configuredto receive the selection of the certain character from the secondcomputing device based on, or in response to, one or more notifications,one or more actions by the second user (e.g., guessing a character,requesting a hint, etc.), etc.

At step 350, the system is configured to, in response to receiving theselection of the certain character from the second computing device,compare the certain character to each of the plurality of characters ofthe phrase stored in memory for determining whether the plurality ofcharacters comprise the certain character. The system may be configuredto compare the certain character to each of the plurality of charactersin the phrase in any suitable way and may depend upon how the pluralityof characters are stored in memory. In at least one embodiment, thesystem is configured to parse the plurality of characters (e.g., if theyare stored in memory as a string of characters and/or as the phrase) andcompare the certain character to each of the parsed characters. In someembodiments, the plurality of characters may be stored in memoryseparately (e.g., as a character, opposed to a string) in a table orother suitable data construct and the system is configured to comparethe certain character to each of the plurality of characters bycomparing the certain character to each character/position of the tableor portion of the table. In further embodiments, the system isconfigured to classify the certain character (e.g., as a punctuationmark, emoticon, letter, number, etc.) and compare the classifiedcharacter only to characters of the plurality of characters of the sameclass (e.g., where the system classifies each of the plurality ofcharacters and stores each of the plurality of characters in memoryassociated with the classification). As will be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art, the system may be configured to compare thecertain character to the plurality of characters on the game server(e.g., the certain character is sent to the game server from the secondcomputing device for comparison) and/or at the second computing device(e.g., an instance of the playable post is transmitted from the gameserver to the second computing device and the second computing devicecompletes the processing for the playable post on a local processor,including this comparison).

At step 360, the system is configured to, upon determining that thephrase stored in memory comprises the certain character, display thecertain character in the one or more corresponding blanks on the secondcomputing device. In various embodiments, the system is configured todisplay the certain character in the one or more corresponding blanks bydisplaying the certain character over the corresponding blank (e.g., theblank is visible “behind” the certain letter). In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to replace the blank with the certain letter (e.g.,the blank is removed from the display and a representation of thecertain character is displayed).

At step 370, the system is configured to, upon determining that thephrase stored in memory does not include the certain character, indicateto the second user that the phrase stored in memory does not include thecertain character. In various embodiments, the system is configured toindicate to the second user that the phrase stored in memory does notinclude the certain character by a visual indication, such as bydisplaying an “x” on the display of the second computing device,displaying the certain character with a line through it (e.g., a “strikeout”), by lighting up an indicator (e.g., making an “x” or other visualcue visible, more visible, or highlighted), etc. In further embodiments,the system is configured to indicate to the second user that the phrasestored in memory does not include the certain character by a non-visualindication such as by an audio cue, by causing the second computingdevice to vibrate, etc. It will be understood by one of ordinary skillin the art that the system may be configured to indicate to the seconduser that the phrase stored in memory does not include the certaincharacter by any combination of indications, such as by a visual cue andby causing the second computing device to vibrate.

At step 380, the system is configured to repeat steps 340-370 until a)each of the series of blanks displays a corresponding character or b)determining that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise thecertain character n times.

Upon completing the playable post, the second user may have any numberof options discussed herein, including, but not limited to: 1) creatinga new playable post to send to the first user; 2) creating a newplayable post using the shareable media file used in the playable post(e.g., creating a new playable post based on the same shareable media ofthe playable post); 3) sharing the playable post with other users; 4)saving the playable post for later; 5) ranking the playable post; and/or6) commenting on the playable post.

Exemplary Post Rating

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary process wherein the system, invarious embodiments, receives particular information, creates a playablepost from the particular information, and enables a user to play andrate the playable post. A number of variations on these features of thesystems and methods herein will be discussed below.

At step 410, the system is configured to receive a media file and aplurality of characters corresponding to the shareable media from acomputing device associated with a post creation player of a pluralityof players. In various embodiments, the system is configured to receivethe shareable media and plurality of characters in substantially thesame way as described above in step 310.

The plurality of players may be any suitable plurality of players. Invarious embodiments, the plurality of players includes one or moreplayers that have accounts with the system (e.g., have created anaccount to play the game which may be based, for example, on a phonenumber, email address, user name, and/or password associated with theuser). In some embodiments, the plurality of players includes one ormore players that have logged into the game via a social network (e.g.,a network of users for sharing messages, text, media, etc.). In furtherembodiments, the plurality of players includes one or more players thathave downloaded an application associated with the system onto acomputing device (e.g., mobile device, tablet, etc.) or have accessed anapplication via a web browser that allows the one or more players tocreate posts and/or participate in the systems and methods describedherein. In still further embodiments, the plurality of players mayinclude one or more post creators/players that represent corporate usersof the system that create posts as marketing material, asadvertisements, as promotional and/or sales offers, etc.

At step 420, the system is configured to create a playable post of thegame from the shareable media and the plurality of characters. Accordingto particular embodiments, the system is configured to create theplayable post by creating one or more blanks for each of the pluralityof characters. In various embodiments, the system is configured tocreate the playable post by creating a thumbnail of the shareable media.In some embodiments, the system is configured to create the playablepost by creating a data object corresponding to the shareable media,plurality of characters, blanks, and other associated game features(e.g., parameters that determine how a post appears on a particulardevice, rules associated with what particular characters are included inthe plurality of characters (e.g., what characters are included out of alarger set of characters), rules associated with how many misses and/orhints are available to a player, and/or any other suitable rules of gameplay and/or functionality).

The system may be configured to create any other suitable standard ornon-standard functionality associated with the playable post. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to create the playable post andcreate a thumbnail of the playable post for display (e.g., within a listof other playable posts). In some embodiments, the system is configuredto create one or more hints for use in play with the playable post. Inparticular embodiments, the system is configured to create and/orassociate any suitable backgrounds, audio effects, music, etc. with theplayable post. In one or more embodiments, the system is configured tocreate and/or associate one or more searchable keywords and/or hashtagswith the playable post (e.g., to assist a user in searching for,locating, and/or organizing the playable post).

At step 430, the system is configured to store the playable post of thegame in memory. In various embodiments, the system is configured tostore the playable post in memory at a central server. In particularembodiments, the system is configured to store the playable post on thecomputing device associated with the post creation user. According toone or more embodiments, the system is configured to store the playablepost in memory in a way substantially similar to the way the system isconfigured to store the shareable media and phrase in memory asdescribed in step 320 (e.g., see FIG. 3). It will be understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art that the playable post may be stored inmemory in any suitable way and may be indexed by any suitable mechanism(e.g., by associating a keyword, by associating with the post creationuser, etc.).

At step 440, the system is configured to display an indication of theplayable post on computing devices associated with the plurality ofplayers. In various embodiments, the system is configured to display athumbnail or other suitable representation of the playable post on thecomputing devices associated with the plurality of players (e.g., uponrequest, the system may be configured to retrieve the thumbnail and/orother representation of the playable post from memory and display thethumbnail and/or other representation of the playable post on thecomputing devices of the plurality of players). In particularembodiments, the system is configured to display the indication of theplayable post on the computing devices associated with the plurality ofplayers by displaying data associated with the playable post, such asdescription, an icon, a representation of the post creation player, etc.In further embodiments, the system is configured to display theindication of the playable post relative to other playable posts oncomputing devices associated with the plurality of players (e.g., theplayable post may be displayed in a list of playable posts, in a swipelist (e.g., wherein a user can swipe left, right, up, or down on amobile device to access the next playable post), etc.

The system, in various embodiments, is configured to display theindication of the playable post based on a suitable request from one ormore of the computing devices associated with the plurality of players.In a particular embodiment, the system is configured to display theindication of the playable post based on receiving a search term thatcorresponds to one or more keywords and/or hashtags associated with theplayable post. In some embodiments the system is configured to displaythe indication of the playable post based on receiving a search termassociated with the post creation player (e.g., the request from the oneor more computing devices associated with the plurality of playersincludes a search term or name that the system uses to locate postsassociated with the post creation player).

At step 450, the system is configured to receive a request from aparticular computing device associated with a particular player of theplurality of players to play the playable post of the game. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to receive the request from theparticular computing device associated with the particular player byreceiving an indication that the particular player has selected theparticular post or an indication of the particular post (e.g., athumbnail of the particular post, etc.). In particular embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive the request from the particularcomputing device associated with the particular player by receiving aresponse to a message from the post creation player (e.g., the postcreation player sends the playable post to the second computing devicein a message or in another suitable form).

At step 460, upon receiving the request from the particular computingdevice, the system is configured to enable the particular player to playthe playable post on the particular computing device. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to enable the particular player toplay the playable post by enabling the user to guess various charactersas substantially described herein at steps 340 to 380 (FIG. 3). As willbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the functionality ofplaying the particular post may be located at the particular computingdevice or remotely at one or more servers (e.g., the system may beconfigured to transmit the playable post to the particular computingdevice or, in some embodiments, the system may be configured to send andreceive commands and data from the particular computing device andsubstantially carry out the processes for playing the game on a remoteserver).

At step 470, the system is configured to receive, from the particularcomputing device, a rating of the playable post. In various embodiments,the system is configured to receive the rating of the playable postafter the particular player plays the playable post (e.g., theparticular player plays the post to completion, the particular playerguesses each of the plurality of characters ending play of the game, theparticular player accumulates a predetermined number of misses orstrikes and fails to guess each of the plurality of characters endingplay of the game). In one or more embodiments, the system is configuredto receive the rating of the playable post before the particular playerplays the playable post. In further embodiments, the system isconfigured to receive the rating of the playable post during the play ofthe playable post.

The rating may be any suitable rating. According to particularembodiments, the rating is a rating from one (1) to five (5), where eachnumber (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) are represented by a star and a userselects the number of stars to indicate the rating (e.g., a user choosesthree stars for a rating of “3”). In various embodiments, the rating isa percentage (e.g., the rating is displayed at a percentage, such as61%, 5%, 100%, etc.). As will be understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art, the rating may be any suitable range (e.g., one to five, one toten, 1.5 to 2.6, one to 100, one to three, etc.). As will also beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the rating may berepresented in any suitable way, such as by another symbol (e.g., byhearts or spades instead of by stars), by a meter that indicates ahigher rating the higher the meter reading, by the actual number of therating (e.g., the playable post has a rating of “4”), by a letter rating(e.g., “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, etc.), etc.

The rating may be associated with any suitable portion of the playablepost or may be associated with the entire playable post. In variousembodiments, the system may be configured to enable the particularplayer to rate a portion of the playable post, such as the shareablemedia, the plurality of characters (e.g., the phrase), etc. In someembodiments, the system may be configured to enable the particularplayer to rate the entire post, which may be used to arrange and/or sortthe post (e.g., a particular player may be able to search for “top ratedposts” or the like).

The system may be configured to receive other information from theparticular computing device regarding the playable post. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to receive comments (e.g., text,audio comments, audio hints, etc.) regarding the playable post. Infurther embodiments, the system is configured to receive keywords and/orhashtags to associate with the playable post.

At step 480, the system is configured to rank the playable post based atleast in part on the rating received from the particular computingdevice. In various embodiments, the system is configured to rank theplayable post against all other playable posts. In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to rank the playable post against a particularsubset of other playable posts (e.g., playable posts with similarkeywords, playable posts in the same category, playable posts createdonly by the post creation player, etc.). In further embodiments, thesystem is configured to rank the playable post based on popularity, suchas number of plays, number of recent plays, number of plays within aparticular time-frame (e.g., the system may be configured to rank poststhat are “trending”), etc.

Exemplary Features, Additional Functionality, Alternate EmbodimentsRanking Users

In addition to ranking posts, as discussed above, the system may beconfigured to rank users (e.g., post creators). In various embodiments,the system is configured to rank a particular user based on the overall,average, median, highest, and/or lowest rating or ranking of one or moreposts created by the particular user (as discussed above, posts may berated and/or ranked). In further embodiments, the system may beconfigured to rank the particular user based on the number of one ormore posts the particular user has guessed correctly, guessed thefastest, guessed with the least number of hints, and/or guessed with thefewest misses (e.g., posts created by other users played by theparticular user). In further embodiments, the system may be configuredto rank the particular user based on the number of posts played and/ornumber of posts created (e.g., a user whom has played more posts may beranked higher than a user who has played a fewer number of posts). Instill further embodiments, the system may be configured to rank theparticular user on the number of points, coins, hints, etc., which maybe earned or purchased by playing the game.

Award/Reward System

As discussed herein, the system may be configured to award a user forany suitable action. In various embodiments, the system is configured toaward the user for correctly completing a playable post withoutreceiving a predefined number of strikes (e.g., the user may receive areward for completing a playable post without receiving one strike, twostrikes, three strikes, etc.). According to particular embodiments, thesystem may be configured to award the user for creating a predefinednumber of playable posts (e.g., the user may receive an award for eachplayable post created, for two or more playable posts created, etc.). Infurther embodiments, the system may be configured to enable the user topurchase awards/rewards.

The award/reward may be any suitable award or reward. According toparticular embodiments, the system is configured to award the user withone or more coins based on the user competing a suitable action. In oneor more embodiments, the system is configured to award the user with oneor more hearts, stars, dollars, etc. for completing a suitable action.In various embodiments, the system may be configured to enable the userto earn hints (e.g., for use during game play). The system may beconfigured, in at least one embodiment, to enable the user to “spend”awards (e.g., coins, hints, etc.) on in-game features, such as stockshareable media (for use in creating one or more playable posts), hints,etc.

Alternate Embodiments

In an alternate embodiment, the systems and methods herein may be usedfor educational purposes. Particularly, the systems and methods hereinmay be used by schools or educational institutions to teach and/or teststudents about different locations, names of various objects, etc. In aparticular example, a school uses the systems and methods bytransmitting playable posts including an image of a state and a phrasecorresponding to the name of the state capital. In this particularexample, one or more students playing these playable posts of statecapitals may learn the state capitals.

As a second particular example, a set of playable posts may include animage of an object and a name of the object as the phrase. Students, inthis second particular example, may guess the name of the object to helpbuild vocabulary, teach a foreign language, etc.

In a second alternate embodiment, the systems and methods herein may beused in the context of a text and file sharing system in atext-messaging format. As a third particular example, the system isconfigured to receive a media file and a phrase (e.g., a series ofcharacters) from a user in the form of an SMS text message (or othersuitable messaging type), convert the media file and the phrase into aplayable post including the media file and a series of blanksrepresenting the phrase, and transmit the playable post to another uservia messaging or SMS text.

In a third alternate embodiment, the system may enable a firstparticular user to send a shareable media file to a second particularuser for a phrase to be stored by the system and transmitted to otherusers. In this third alternate embodiment (and others), the system isconfigured to enable the first particular user to select a shareablemedia file (e.g., an image, video, gif, etc.), store the shareable mediafile (e.g., at the game server), transmit the shareable media file(e.g., via the game server) to the second particular user (e.g., one ormore users selected by the first particular user), enable the secondparticular user to add a phrase to the shareable media, and transmit aplayable post substantially based on the shareable media file and thephrase to a third particular user, to the first particular user, to thepublic, and/or to any combination of the previous users and public.

In a fourth alternate embodiment, the system may enable a user to createa phrase (e.g., caption) contest for a particular shareable media file.In this example, the user (e.g., a company) may select shareable mediaand instruct other users to create a phrase to associate with theshareable media. Continuing with this example, the user may set-up asuitable reward for the other user that creates the best phrase toassociate with the shareable media (e.g., this may be a link to aspecial product, special discount, or other suitable call to action).

Exemplary User Interface

FIGS. 5-23 provide examples of the systems and methods described hereinwithin the context of a website or application. Particularly, FIGS. 5-23depict exemplary screenshots of various user interfaces for playing agame and sharing digital media. These figures represent interfaces whichmay be displayed on tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, mobiledevices, handheld devices such as smart phones, and other similardevices. These exemplary screenshots use the term “Photo.” However, itshould be understood that the use of “photo” in these exemplaryscreenshots should not be limited to photographs, but that this term mayrepresent any media or shareable media as disclosed herein.

FIG. 5 is a user interface 500 featuring a game home screen of aparticular user (e.g., the user viewing the game). The game home screengenerally includes one or more playable posts (e.g., combinations ofshareable media and phrases created by one or more users) and useroptions 530. As will be understood from discussions herein, the one ormore playable posts may include any suitable number of playable poststhat are arranged in any suitable way. In the particular embodiment inFIG. 5, the one or more playable posts are arrange such that theparticular user can scroll through the one or more playable posts byswiping their screen vertically (e.g., up or down) to reveal newplayable posts.

The game home screen 500 depicts a single playable post 501. Playablepost 501 includes a post creation username 502 (e.g., a username of aplayer that created playable post 501), an image 504 (e.g., which may bean image, a video, a gif, an audio file, etc.) associated with the postcreation username 502, and other information and statistics regardingplayable post 501. This other information and statistics includes thecreation time indication 506 of when playable post 501 was created, aplayed number 508 depicting how many times playable post 501 has beenplayed by users, and an average rating 510, indicating the averagerating of users who have played playable post 501 (e.g., as depicted,four (4) of five (5) stars).

The playable post 501, as shown in FIG. 5, includes an image 512 and anindication that the playable post 501 has not been played by theparticular user 514. The playable post 501 includes one or more blanks516, representing a phrase associated with the image 512 to be guessedby users. As shown, the playable post 501 includes one or more comments518 where users can leave one or more comments regarding the playablepost 501.

The game home screen 500 shows user options 530. As shown, user optionsinclude a home button 540 (e.g., for displaying the home screen 500), anotices button 538 (e.g., for displaying one or more alerts,notifications, and the like as further discussed below), a create button536 (e.g., for creating a playable post), a profile button 534 (e.g.,for accessing profile information of the particular user), and a browsebutton 532 (e.g., for browsing playable posts, searching for playableposts, for searching hashtags, etc.). Each of these user options will befurther discussed below.

Exemplary Playable Post Creation

FIGS. 6-8 depict exemplary user interfaces for creating a playable post.In various embodiments, these figures depict an exemplary series of userinterfaces the particular user (above) may experience upon selecting thecreate button 536 from the home screen 500 discussed above.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for selecting amedia source for selecting shareable media to use in creating aparticular playable post (e.g., accessed upon the particular userselecting the create button 536 above). As shown in FIG. 6, theparticular user is presented several option to choose the shareablemedia for creating the particular playable post, including taking aphotograph 604 (e.g., with an image capture device operatively connectedthe device displaying the user interface), selecting the shareable mediafrom a “camera roll” 606 (e.g., selecting the shareable media frominternal memory of the device displaying the user interface), selectingthe shareable media from “add from third-party source” 608, whichrepresents the user selecting the shareable media from a third partyservice (e.g., via an appropriate API), such as a social network (e.g.,Facebook®, Instragram®, LinkedIN®, Twitter®) and/or a image services(e.g., Getty Images®), and pasting the shareable media 610 (e.g.,enabling the particular user to copy and paste the shareable media fromanother source, such as the Internet).

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface 700 for enablingthe particular user to add a phrase to a selected shareable media (e.g.,shareable media selected from a shareable media source as discussedabove regarding FIG. 6). As shown, the user interface 700 includes theselected shareable media 702, an area for displaying the phrase theparticular user wishes to add to the selected shareable media 704, and akeyboard for inputting characters of the phrase the particular userwishes to add to the selected shareable media 704. As will be understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art, the keyboard for inputtingcharacters of the phrase may be any suitable keyboard or character inputdevice. As shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7, the keyboard isa touch keyboard associated with the device displaying the userinterface 700.

In various embodiments, once the particular user has entered the phrasefor the selected shareable media, the system converts the phrase into aseries of blanks (including spaces) and enables the particular user toapprove and send the playable post to other users. FIG. 8 is anexemplary screenshot of a user interface for approving the playable postaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.8, the user interface for approving the playable post 800 includes theselected shareable media 802, the characters of the phrase (e.g., asshown in blanks), unused spaces 806, a private post button 808 forsharing the playable post privately (e.g., with one or more usersselected by the particular user), a public post button for sharing theplayable post publicly (e.g., with all users), and a send button 812 forsending (e.g., approving) the playable post (e.g., the playable post issent to a game server for storage and/or distribution to selected usersand/or the public as described herein). As will be understood fromdiscussion herein, should the particular user select the send button812, the playable post will be sent to a selected group of users (e.g.,a group of private users or all users depending upon whether the publicpost button 810 or the private post button 808 has been selected) asshown.

Exemplary Game Play

As discussed regarding FIG. 5, the particular user may select a playablepost to play (e.g., guess the phrase associated with the shareable mediaand/or access other functionality). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9,the particular user may browse playable posts on the home screen userinterface 900 by swiping vertically. As shown in FIG. 9, the particularuser views playable posts 902 and 904 and may select either to play (oranother post not shown).

Upon the particular user selecting a particular playable post to play,in various embodiments, the particular user is presented with the userinterface depicted in FIG. 10. User interface 1000 shows the playablepost selected by the particular user. In the embodiment shown in FIG.10, the playable post includes shareable media 1002, a number of strikes(e.g., the number of times the particular user may guess an incorrectletter before the game ends) 1004, and a plurality of blanks 1006representing a plurality of characters of the phrase of the playablepost, including a number of prefilled blanks 1008 displaying charactersthat are not guessable. Continuing with FIG. 10, this embodimentincludes a set of characters 1010 that the particular user may select toguess a character of the phrase and a hint button 1012 that theparticular user may select to receive a hint for guessing the phrase(e.g., the hint may be any suitable hint, such as filling in one or morecharacters of the plurality of characters of the phrase.

FIG. 11 shows a user interface 1100 in the midst of game play. As shownin the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the user interface 1100 includesshareable media 1102 of the playable post, a number of strikes 1104(e.g., the particular user has guessed an incorrect character and hasthus earned a strike as characterized by the highlighted “X”), aplurality of blanks 1106 representing the plurality of characters of thephrase associated with the shareable media, a number of prefilled blanks1108, and a number of correctly guessed characters 1110 of the pluralityof characters of the phrase (e.g., “S”). The embodiment shown in FIG. 11also includes the set of characters 1112 that the particular user mayguess, with two characters missing, representing characters that havebeen guessed (e.g., “S” and “J”). This embodiment further shows the hintbutton 1114 for enabling the particular user to use a hint for guessingthe plurality of characters of the phrase.

FIG. 12 shows a user interface 1200 in the midst of game play. As shownin the embodiment of FIG. 12, the user interface 1200 includes a “Use aHint” 1204 indication (e.g., as shown, a pop-up style screen) displayedover the playable post shareable media. The Use a Hint screen 1204 maybe displayed in response to the particular user (e.g., the particularuser discussed herein that has selected and is playing the playablepost) selecting a hint button 1208 and includes an available coinindication 1202 indicating a number of coins available to the particularuser. The Use a Hint screen 1204 further includes a use a hint button1206 indicating the number of coins that will be used to reveal the hint(e.g., upon the particular user selecting the use a hint button 1206,the system, in various embodiments, is configured to deduct the numberof coins indicated by the use a hint button 1206 from the available coinindication 1202 and reveal the hint).

FIG. 13 shows a user interface 1300 at completion of the particular userplaying the particular post (as discussed above regarding FIGS. 10, 11,and 12). As shown, user interface 1300 includes the shareable media ofthe playable post 1302, an indication of the number of strikes received1304 by the particular user (e.g., two strikes as indicated by eachhighlighted “X”), and an indication the particular user has solved (orcompleted) the playable post 1306 (“Complete!”). The user interface 1300further includes an indication of the correctly guessed plurality ofcharacters of the phrase by highlighting the plurality of blanks 1308,an indication of the plurality of characters of the phrase displayed ineach of the plurality of blanks 1310, an indication of the lettersguessed by the particular user of the character set 1312, and a hintbutton 1314.

FIG. 14 shows a user interface 1400 after the particular user completesplaying the playable post (e.g., after the user interface 1300). In theembodiment shown in FIG. 14, the user interface 1400 includes theplayable post 1402 and a message 1410 indicating that the particularuser completed the playable post (e.g., “Got it!”) and is awarded two(2) coins. In the one or more embodiments discussed regarding FIGS.9-14, the particular user completes play of a playable post once themessage 1410 is displayed and the particular user is taken back to thehome screen where the particular user may select one or more otheroptions and/or may choose to play another playable post.

Additional Exemplary Features and Options

FIGS. 15-23 show various user interfaces featuring additional exemplaryfeatures and options of the systems and methods described herein. Aparticular user will be used in the following discussion of FIGS. 15-23,although it should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the artthat any user may access these features and options. Beginning with FIG.15, a user interface 1500 displays exemplary options available to theparticular user after playing a particular playable post 1502. As shownin the embodiment in FIG. 15, the previously played post 1502 isdisplayed in the background of various options 1504 relating to thepreviously played post 1502. As shown in FIG. 15, the various options1504 relating to previously played post 1502 include a “Dog-ear it!”option 1506 for recommending the previously played post 1502 to anotheruser and/or to save the previously played post to memory so the user mayfind the previously played post (e.g., the previously played post isassociated with the user's account), a hide option for hiding thepreviously played post 1502 from the particular user's home screen, areplay option enabling the particular user to replay the previouslyplayed post 1502, and a share option 1512 for enabling the particularuser to share the previously played post 1502 with other users and/or onone or more social networks (e.g., a media or message sharing socialcomputing network). According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, thevarious options 1504 further include a cancel button for exiting thevarious options 1504.

FIG. 16 shows an exemplary user interface 1600 for adding one or morecomments to a playable post. As shown in FIG. 16, user interface 1600includes two options, a comment viewing option 1602 and a rating viewingoption 1604. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 16, the comment viewingoption 1602 is selected and one or more comments from one or more otherusers is displayed, such as, for example, user comment 1610. In thisembodiment, user comment 1610 includes the commenting user's username,shareable media associated with the commenting user, and the commentinguser's comment. The user comment 1610 further includes the time of thecomment 1612 (e.g., seven (7) days ago). User interface 1600 furtherincludes a comment area 1614 for the particular user to enter a comment(e.g., by selecting the comment area 1614 and typing a comment on asuitable key-entry device).

FIG. 17 shows an exemplary user interface 1700 for viewing the averagerating for a playable post and individual rating from one or more usersof the playable post. As shown in FIG. 17, user interface 1700 includesa comment viewing option 1702 (e.g., see FIG. 16) and a rating viewingoption 1704. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the rating viewingoption 1704 is selected and an average rating 1706 for the playable postis displayed (e.g., one star). Further, continuing with FIG. 17, theuser interface 1700 includes one or more ratings from one or moreindividual users 1708 as well as an indication of whether each of theone or more individual users solved the playable post (e.g., “Got it!”for a user that solved the playable post or “Oh well . . . ” for a userthat did not solve the playable post).

FIG. 18 shows an exemplary user interface 1800 wherein the particularuser has selected the browse button 1810 on the user home screen (e.g.,as discussed above regarding FIG. 5). As shown in FIG. 18, userinterface 1800 includes a title 1802, a search button 1804 (e.g., forenabling the particular user to search for a playable post by one ormore keywords), example one or more hashtags/keywords 1806 (e.g., theparticular user may select one of the one or more hashtags/keywords todisplay related playable posts), and top rated challenges 1808 (e.g.,one or more highly rated playable posts, etc.), which the particularuser may browse by vertical swipe.

FIG. 19 shows an exemplary user interface 1900 wherein the particularuser has selected the profile button 1918 (e.g., as discussed aboveregarding FIGS. 5 and 18). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 19, the userinterface 1900 includes a name of the particular user 1902 (e.g., fullname, username, etc.), a settings button 1904 for accessing one or moresettings (which will be discussed below regarding FIG. 20), variousprofile statistics 1906 (e.g., win percent, number of coins won,collected, and/or purchased, and number of playable post created), afollowing button 1906 for accessing a list of users particular user isfollowing (as will be further discussed below regarding FIG. 21), afollowers button 1908 for accessing a list of users following theparticular user (as will be further discussed below regarding FIG. 22) ,an indication of the average rating of playable posts created by theparticular user 1912 (e.g., three (3) of five (5) stars), a list ofplayable posts created by the particular user 1914, which includes anindication of each private post created by the particular user 1916(e.g., indicated by the lock).

FIG. 20 shows an exemplary user interface 2000 wherein the particularuser has selected a settings button (e.g., settings button 1904 in FIG.19) or otherwise accessed settings options for their profile. As shownin FIG. 20, user interface 2000 includes a title 2002 (e.g.,“Settings”), and various settings buttons including: 1) a “Your 5 StarRatings” button 2004 (e.g., for displaying a list of playable postcreated by the particular user that have received a five (5) starrating); 2) a “Tell A Friend” button 2006 (e.g., for transmitting amessage to an entity that is not a user of the system, such as bysending a user of a social network an invite to create an account orotherwise participate in the systems and methods disclosed herein,etc.), 3) a “Send Feedback” button 2008 (e.g., for transmitting one ormore comments from the particular user regarding the systems and methodsdisclosed herein from a computing device associated with the particularuser to a computing system associated with the systems and methodsdisclosed herein); 4) a “Save Original Photos” button 2010 (e.g., forsaving one or more shareable media files to local memory of a computingdevice associated with the particular user); 5) a “Visit Our Website”button 2012 for enabling the particular user to access web-basedcontent; 6) a “Legal Stuff” button 2014 for enabling the particular userto view various legal documents (e.g., for example, a terms of usedocument); and 7) a “Log Out” button 2016 for enabling the particularuser to log out of the system (e.g., requiring the particular user tolog back in to play or create playable posts the next time theparticular user accesses the system).

FIGS. 21 and 22 show exemplary user interfaces 2100 and 2200 fordisplaying a list of one or more users that are being followed by, orare following, the particular user, respectively. As will be understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art, the particular user may “follow”another user. In various embodiments, selecting to follow another userindicates that the particular user will receive updates andnotifications associated with the users the particular user isfollowing. For example, the particular user may receive a notificationeach time a user the particular user is following creates a new playablepost, gives a particular playable post a five (5) star rating, etc.

As shown in FIG. 21, user interface 2100 shows a title of the screen2102 (“Following”) and a list of one or more other users the particularuser is following 2104. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, theparticular user is following four (4) other users. The four other users,in this embodiment (and in others) are each represented by a username,shareable media, and a star rating.

As shown in FIG. 22, user interface 2200 shows a title of the screen2202 (“Followers”) and one or more users following the particular user2204. In various embodiments, the one or more users following theparticular user may receive notifications when the particular usercreates a playable post, rates a particular playable post a five (5)star post, etc. The one or more users following the particular user areeach represented by a username, shareable media, and a star rating.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary user interface 2300 that the system, invarious embodiments, is configured to display to the particular userupon selection of the notification button 2306 (e.g., see FIG. 5). Theuser interface 2300 includes a title of screen 2302 (“Notices”) and oneor more notices 2304 regarding playable posts (e.g., various playersratings of playable posts created by the particular user), regardingother users of the system the particular user is following, and/orregarding other users of the system following the particular user. Aswill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, previouslyunviewed notices may be highlighted in any suitable way, such as bybeing displayed in a different color than viewed notices, by beingdisplayed at the top of a list of notifications, and/or by beingdisplayed with an icon or other indication that the notice has not beenviewed by the particular user.

Conclusion

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments has beenpresented only for the purposes of illustration and description and isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventions to the preciseforms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain theprinciples of the inventions and their practical application so as toenable others skilled in the art to utilize the inventions and variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art to which the present inventionspertain without departing from their spirit and scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a computer game across adistributed Internet network, the method comprising the steps of:receiving, by at least one processor at a game server, a shareable mediafile, a phrase corresponding to the shareable media file, and a keyword,from a first computing device associated with a first user, the phrasecomprising a plurality of characters; creating a platform-agnostic postplayable via one or more application instances and on a websitecomprising: a platform-agnostic sharable media data object representingthe shareable media and a platform-agnostic phrase data objectrepresenting the phrase by transforming the sharable media file andphrase into a platform agnostic format, wherein the game server isconfigured to transmit the post to one or more second computing devices;a series of blanks, wherein each blank represents a character of theplurality of characters of the phrase; a visual representation of thepost, the visual representation comprising the series of blanksdisplayed on top of the sharable media; and associating the keyword withthe post and the visual representation in memory; transmitting, by atleast one processor, the post to the one or more second computingdevices associated with second users over the distributed Internetnetwork; and facilitating display of the visual representation of thepost.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storingthe shareable media file, the keyword, and the phrase in memoryassociated with a first user profile associated with the first user. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adding the post toa list of posts in memory at a first position and associated with thekeyword, the list arranged based at least in part on ratings of theposts included in the list, accessible via one or more applicationinstances and via the website, and searchable via keywords.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein facilitating display of the visualrepresentation comprises facilitating display of the visualrepresentation of the post within the list.
 5. The method of claim 4,further comprising the step of in response to either a) facilitatingdisplay of a character in each of the series of blanks, or b)determining that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise thecertain character n times, receiving a rating of the post andassociating the rating with the post in memory.
 6. The method of claim5, further comprising the step of assigning the post a second positionon the list of posts based on the rating.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of receiving, by the at least one processor,a selection of a certain character of a plurality of predefinedcharacters from a particular second computing device of the one or moresecond computing devices.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprisingthe step of comparing the certain character to each of the plurality ofcharacters of the phrase stored in memory for determining whether theplurality of characters comprise the certain character.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising the step of, upon determining that thephrase stored in memory comprises the certain character, facilitatingdisplay of the certain character in the one or more corresponding blankson the second computing device.
 10. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising the step of, upon determining that the phrase stored inmemory does not comprise the certain character, indicating to the seconduser that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise the certaincharacter.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofcalculating a number of times the post has been played via the websiteand the one or more application instances.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising the step of assigning the post a second position on alist of posts based on the number of times the post has been played. 13.The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of ranking the firstuser based on the number of times the post has been played.
 14. A systemfor playing a computer game across a distributed Internet network, thesystem comprising: memory for storing at least one post of a game,wherein the at least one post comprises platform-agnostic datarepresenting a phrase associated with a shareable media file; and atleast one processor operatively coupled to the memory, the at least oneprocessor configured for: receiving media and a phrase associated withthe media, wherein the phrase comprises a plurality of characters;creating a post by: transforming the media and phrase intoplatform-agnostic data playable via at least an application instance andvia a website; generating a series of blanks based on the phrase,wherein each of the series of blanks represents a character of theplurality of characters as a non-guessable character in aplatform-agnostic format; and adding platform-agnostic game instructionsto the post, wherein the platform-agnostic game instructions enable areceiving computing platform to execute the game that includes the mediaand phrase; transmitting the post to a game server for transmission tothe receiving computing platform; and facilitating display of a visualrepresentation of the post, the visual representation comprising theseries of blanks displayed on top of the sharable media.
 15. The systemof claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configuredfor presenting the following options: a) to transmit the post to one ofone or more computing platforms; and b) to transmit the post to morethan one of the one or more computing platforms.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured forreceiving a selection of at least one of options a-b.
 17. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the receiving computing platform is the selected oneor more computing platforms.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein theplatform-agnostic game instructions comprise instructions for causingthe receiving computing platform to: (i) display the media, the seriesof blanks, and a plurality of predefined characters; (ii) receive anindication of a certain character of the plurality of predefinedcharacters while the media is displayed; (iii) in response to receivingthe indication of the certain character, compare the certain characterto each of the plurality of characters of the phrase for determiningwhether the phrase comprises the certain character; (iv) upondetermining that the phrase comprises the certain character, display thecertain character in one or more of the series of blanks; (v) upondetermining that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise thecertain character, indicate that the phrase stored in memory does notcomprise the certain character; and (vi) repeat steps ii-v until a) eachof the series of blanks displays a corresponding character or b)determining that the phrase stored in memory does not comprise thecertain character n times.
 19. A system for playing a computer gameacross a distributed Internet network, the system comprising: memory forstoring at least one post of a game, wherein the at least one postcomprises platform-agnostic media data representing a phrase associatedwith a shareable media file; and at least one processor operativelycoupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured for:receiving, by the at least one processor, the shareable media file, thephrase corresponding to the shareable media file, and a keyword, from afirst computing device associated with a first user, the phrasecomprising a plurality of characters; creating a platform-agnostic postplayable via one or more application instances and on a websitecomprising: a platform-agnostic sharable media data object representingthe shareable media and a platform-agnostic phrase data objectrepresenting the phrase by transforming the sharable media file andphrase into a platform agnostic format; a series of blanks, wherein eachblank represents a character of the plurality of characters of thephrase; a visual representation of the post, the visual representationcomprising the series of blanks displayed on top of the sharable media;and associating the keyword with the post and the visual representationin the memory; transmitting, by the at least one processor, the post toone or more second computing devices associated with second users overthe distributed Internet network; and facilitating display of the visualrepresentation of the post.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein theseries of blanks includes one or more blanks including a correspondingcharacter of the plurality of characters as a non-guessable character.